ἐκ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐκ

   ek

   from
2. sentence🔊 οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν

   HOI ouk eks hai-MA-tōn ou-DE ek tʰe-LÊ-ma-tos sar-KOS ou-DE ek tʰe-LÊ-ma-tos an-DROS AL ek tʰe-OU e-ge-NNÊ-thē-san

   who were born not from bloods nor from will of the flesh nor from will of the man but from God

Exegesis

The initial negation ouk {οὐκ | ouk} ‘not’ combines with a series of coordinated phrases introduced by ex/ek {ἐξ | ex} ‘out of, from’, forming a threefold denial: ex haimaton {ἐξ αἱμάτων | ex hai-má-ton} ‘from bloods’, ek thelematos sarkos {ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς | ek the-lē-ma-tos sar-kós} ‘from the will of flesh’, and ek thelematos andros {ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς | ek the-lē-ma-tos an-dros} ‘from the will of a man’. Each ek-phrase uses the genitive as a genitive of source, specifying possible origins that are being excluded. The plural haimaton ‘bloods’ reflects a Semitic idiom for physical descent or ancestry. The paired expressions thelematos sarkos and thelematos andros distinguish between generic human, bodily impulse and specifically male initiative, creating a layered picture of purely human begetting. The coordinating sequence ouk … oude …

This conjunction introduces the climactic contrast: ek theou {ἐκ θεοῦ | ek the-oû} ‘from God’ as the true source, followed by the main verb egennethesan {ἐγεννήθησαν | e-gen-nē-thē-san} ‘they were born’. The aorist passive form underscores that the birth is a completed event effected by God rather than by human agency. In translation, the parallelism of the three human sources versus the single divine source is preserved, and the final position of “from God” is maintained to keep the rhetorical climax.

Root and etymology

demonstrative stem kein-🔊 κειν-kappa–epsilon–iota–nu

“that one (over there), that person”

• 🔊 ἐκεῖekeithere, in that placeJohn 11:6